Seneca Rocks Trail. A number of years ago, my husband and I visited the educational Discovery…read moreCenter for the Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, and got a great view of the Seneca Rocks from the parking lot. But, it was late in the day on a Sunday and we had a long drive ahead of us, so we decided not to attempt to hike up the trail, but we put it as yet another item on our bucket list. We returned to the area in Sept, 2025, specifically to attempt to do the hike. No concerns as to whether my husband would be able to do it, but I have to admit that I was apprehensive as to whether I could! The brochures say that it's 1.5 miles each way (up, and then back down) and you gain almost 850' in elevation. And, did I mention that I'm in my 60s, NOT a regular hiker, and with a medical condition that affects my balance? Nonetheless, my husband and I donned our hiking boots, put on some sunscreen, packed a picnic lunch, snacks, and water, and my hiking stick -- and we were on our way! The trail is wide and well-maintained and, as others have mentioned, has steep sections, especially in the switchbacks towards the top. It's a steady climb up, and my Fitbit registered some intense exercise, but my heart rate never reached its peak category. Given my balance issues, having my walking stick and an occasional hand from my husband, especially on the descent in steep areas with roots or stones, were helpful. I tried not to be discouraged by the two very fit runners who raced by us, recognizing that the majority of hikers and dogs on leash were panting at least to some degree! There are occasional benches, especially towards the bottom, and signs pointing out ecological features. There's an observation deck at the top, with gorgeous views of the valley below, as well as shaded benches to enjoy our picnic lunch. You can't see the rocks from the observation deck. However, some hikers scramble over some additional rocks for more views though signage warns that this can be dangerous. I'm happy to report that my husband and I both completed the hike, and we are now able to cross that item off of our joint bucket list. We celebrated our accomplishment by getting some ice cream at Yokum's, just down the street! Admission to the Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area and parking is free. Staff in the Discovery Center are exceptionally helpful. There are picnic tables and restrooms at the base, and the Seneca Shadows Campground is about a mile down the street.

Literally a quick trip ( sadly), recommended by a friend, en route from Cass to Elkins…read more Absolutely beautiful and would have loved to have hiked this beauty. Hope to return one day ( Florida resident), preferably again in the fall to see the colors. Nature center sadly closed because of the government shut down.

During the 45-minute "safety" session, the owner filled the time sharing her life story (about…read moreimmigrating to the USA through marriage because she was so beautiful that her future husband proposed within a week, brought her to America, and yada yada yada). Self-serving. Conceited. Self-entitled. Red flag #1. Later, the owner said she was judging my family to see if she'll let us on the ride... and that she only lets folks on if she believes they'll leave a 5-star review on google for her business. Red flag #2. The owner bragged about how she purchases brand new ATVs every year. But, when we arrived at the trail-head, we were met with 4 ATVs in questionable condition (broken taillight on one of them, high miles on three of them, balding tires on a couple of them). Maintenance did not match the description or the price for the ride. Red flag #3. We brushed it off and hoped for a great ride--which never came. The first hour of the ride was limited to 5-8mph. Why? It was flat as a pancake with zero scenery. Boring. We took a 20 minute break for pictures but our tour guide never offered to take our family photo. (Why did we tip him $100 at the end of our ride is beyond me... worst service ever for an ATV operator). At one point, I pulled our tour guide over to share with him my family has a lot of experience riding ATVs in the US and abroad and that we'd like to go faster and ride on some hills, etc. The last 10 minutes of our ride was up and down 1 hill. I think we might have gone 15mph as a top speed. My family was so disappointed; they couldn't believe how lousy the experience was. Big time-waster on our visit to the area.

You have a lot of ATV choices in this area; avoid working with this business…read more You start the day an hour ahead of your scheduled time for what was pitched as a safety talk and tutorial. I've ridden ATVs for over 20 years in the US and in other countries; this is the first time I had such a long talk scheduled. The talk was the owner telling her life story, how she came to America from a war-torn central American country on an education visa, married an American, and now believes "I can't be racist" as she spouts racist things. She is the definition of an immigrant who wants to close the door to others like her. The funny thing is, I don't give a sh-- about a person's politics. I'm there to have fun! To ride an ATV in the wild! But she forced us to listen to this stuff while we politely had to sit there and smile. "I'm not a racist, but I think they're using that housing behind the Walmart to house illegals." What does that have to do with riding an ATV? She spent more than 5 minutes talking about all the damage fees we'd be responsible for if the ATV got damaged. Okay, we get it -- don't damage your property. She spent another 5 minutes talking about her other outdoor businesses. Finally, 40 minutes later, she's wrapping things up. She's done talking about how they're eating the cats and dogs in Ohio (I'm not kidding and she was dead serious about believing that fable), and we drive 10 minutes to the actual ATV starting area. For an ATV company, they do not provide bathrooms. Anywhere. So even if you just drove an hour to get to this place, there is no place to relieve yourself. I've never been to an ATV place that didn't have a bathroom. Very weird (and cheap). Our guides were nice and more professional than the owner. They showed us how to safely operate the ATVs and warned us against the usual behaviors they want to see and don't want to see. Some of the ATVs had tires that were nearly bald. I guess all the fees aren't going into ATV maintenance? Our group started off into the forest. So many of the first trails seemed to be newer and still had saplings and other underbrush we were riding through. The trails themselves seemed... unfinished? Anyways, it was slow going through this part, 5-10 mph. You ride in a train formation, with one of the guides up front leading the way and another at the back. You go where they go, at the speed they go. We break out of the forest area and go up and down some hills and some small fields. A lot of the trails are dead-ends and there's a fair amount of going back and forth over the same trail (sometimes going in the opposite direction). You're kind of on the side of a mountain, but it's mostly forested and not much to see (trees!). I guess that was fine, but like I said, you're going pretty slow so there's just a lot of forest to view. At some point, you get to trails that are much better maintained. As long as it's not a hill trail that's partially washed out, some of these trails are very nice and you're finally able to get some speed and enjoyment out of the ATV. 10-20 mph here. At roughly the half-way point of our 2 hour tour, you reach an abandoned house. Our guides needed to check out a trail's condition to see if we could go on it, and left us alone here for about 10 minutes. We took some photos of the really great view while swatting away hundreds of no seeums. They took our group photo when they returned, we mounted our ATVs and we were off again. One of the trails had a downed tree across it. We moved it for the guides. Later on while riding another trail, I noticed that rather than cut up a tree that was blocking it, they had just created another trail around the tree (it was not large and a chainsaw and 15 minutes is all it would've taken to remove the fallen tree). Some really good, wide trails here, and one or two opportunities to enjoy some speed on the ATV. A good ATV ride is always a mix of trails and speed, and it takes some careful thought to make for a real good experience. I'd say on the trail riding alone, this ATV experience is like 2.5 or 3 stars. I've had much better experiences. The icing on the cake was the end. We left our guides a healthy tip and one of the guides (the owner's daughter) was talking to the owner. She asked to speak to one of us on the phone. The guy closest to the phone took it and sat there listening while he was berated by the owner for leaving too little of a tip. Imagine the weird sense of entitlement it takes to demand a certain level of tipping -- and how little she must be paying her own guides! While "tipping is expected," what is never expected is you specifying the percentage of a tip. Someone who does that clearly doesn't understand how to run a business in the USA. That left us with a bad taste in our mouths, as none of us ever had an owner demand a bigger tip for a service they provided. And trust me when I say this place isn't cheap and the owner drives a Range Rover. Disappointing.

I've been to so many parts of this forest that it's mind boggling. It's beautiful in ways that…read morewords could never describe. There is so much to see and so many cool places to explore. One of my favorite parts is Bickle Knob because the views from the fire tower are beyond spectacular. Bowden Cave is also a great place to explore as well. There is a ton of great places to camp, mountain bike, and hike. If you are ever able to stop in any part of the Monongahela National Forest please do yourself a favor and do it. Have fun and be safe!

Driving through WV, Monongahela National Forest is a must do. It's absolutely beautiful with tons…read moreof hiking trails. Many of the trails have adequate parking spots and restrooms. We went through the Cranberry Glades and also found a random trail that led to waterfalls. This forest is GIANT. We want to come back again and find a camping ground because this national forest is truly stunning.

Playground, splash pad, and cure of the river. A great time for the kids. There are picnic tables…read morefor the adults and the stage is near by where they host bands and concerts.

Great view of the Mon River with boat ramps and a kayak launch. The park hosts free concerts all…read moresummer with great area talent. They also have a farmers market with plenty of parking. The splash pad is very nice.

What an amazing place to bring a family, watch some baseball as a stranger, walk the trails they…read morehave, enjoy the skate park amongst other activities directly inside the rec center. These activities include basketball courts, you can play air hockey, they have full loan vending machines and classes available for yoga , Zumba or whatever it is! Also If you are a resident of Peters Township you can get inside Rec. Cntr to play basketball for only $1.00!!! or get a year long membership for ONLY $8!!!! Wow!!!

Nice place to visit in the community. They have a gym with multiple basketball hoops. Walking…read moretrack. They have classes that you can take. They also have some other games and free WiFi.

Amazing adventure on the via ferrata! Thank you to Bryan and Addie, our fabulous tour guides. My…read moregroup and I are not professional climbers, and in fact, this was our first rock, climbing experience. As they say, go big or go home! The via ferrata was like a dream. Climbing up on the rungs on the side of a thin rock face, going high up into the fog will certainly get your adrenaline pumping. The views are spectacular and unreal. At times, it was scary, but both guides were calm and reassuring, helping us navigate this intricate course. Well worth the ticket price to experience this once in a lifetime adventure. If you are afraid of heights or are not having fun, there are two exit points that the guides will happily take you to. I recommend pushing yourself and giving this a try. This was definitely outside of my comfort zone, and I'll cherish the experience (and muscle soreness) forever!

Absolutely amazing experience and top-notch staff. The lodging is a bit barebones and the beds are…read morenot comfy. Some pink mold growing on the shower curtain. Wish they'd offer coffee in the downstairs in the morning before your climb.

One of the things that I love about my children is that they are so much braver than I ever was as…read morea child. I stand in awe at the risks they are willing to take. Even though the things they do make my hands sweaty, I don't want to stifle their spirit or curiosity, so we often do adventurous things that I would never do when I was a young girl. One of those things was going on a zipline canopy tour in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. You're probably thinking, "That's nothing! Ziplining is perfectly safe!" And I'm sure it is, somewhat. But sometimes, I'm still that timid little girl who is afraid to get hurt. And I try to avoid doing anything that requires me to sign a waiver, wear a helmet, be strapped in by trained personnel, be high up off the ground, etc. So, yes, I was being a good mom and taking my kids to do adventurous things, but I let them have all of the adventure while I waited safely on the ground. Kids can zipline and traverse the canopy tour by themselves as long as they weigh at least 70 pounds. They also have to be able to make it the whole two hours of the tour. When we visited, it was very cold, and even colder once you get high up in the trees. If you visit on a cold day, bring some thin gloves and a beanie! The people who do the tours are students at West Virginia University. The three students we encountered on our tour were super knowledgeable and good with kids. They made sure my kids had all of their safety gear on correctly, showed them the basics, made sure they understood how to zipline safely, showed them what to do if they got stuck in the middle of a zipline (ay, dios mio!) and checked in with them throughout the tour. I felt like safety was of the utmost importance to them, which I appreciated. The canopy tour consisted of four zip-lines, seven platforms up in the trees, an aerial bridge, aerial ladder and a rappel station to exit the course. It was a fun time! No one died or fell and became paralyzed. (I mean, what kind of paranoid sicko would even think that sort of thing?!) The only thing I would do differently is visit on a warmer day. At the end, my oldest child said he couldn't feel his fingers and he was actively shivering. So, visiting on a warm day would probably make the experience a lot more enjoyable.

My family and I ziplined here today. It is a first class operation all the way! The guides are…read moreprofessional and informative. The course is great. Before we embarked on the ziplines, we did a small, low-to-the-ground practice course. The guides made sure we all knew their hand signals and how to brake. Then, we did three ziplines, each one a little more adventurous than the last. We ended by stepping off a 45-foot platform, with the guides lowering us down on a cable. My kids (ages 12 and 14) had a blast. My husband and I loved it too. It was a great family adventure.

This is Maryland's only ski resort. I have skied Wisp many times and always enjoyed it. Even when…read moreit's icy. This is my first visit in over a decade and the first time not during ski season. The hotel was like I remembered. The restaurant and bar are different than my last visit. Sadly, I can't report on those because they close at 8pm. Even on Friday & Saturday nights. Wisp needs to change that for weary travelers who want a beverage after a long drive. They did do an excellent job handling our group and catering our lunch. The group dinner was given good marks by my colleagues. I want to return to play the two golf courses and ride the alpine coaster.

During our time in Deep Creek, we decided to visit Wisp Resort. I was looking forward to visiting…read morethe Wisp Resort largely because of their mountain coaster. Upon arrival, I noticed how run down things seemed. The parking lot was in bad shape and there were piles of stuff just hanging out behind different buildings. I couldn't tell if they were renovating or what but definitely not how I envision a "resort". I was not shocked to find that the mountain coaster was out of order. Went with the vibes I was getting. We pivoted and rode the lift to the top. It was a beautiful ride, we saw some animals and lots of interesting plants. Once at the top we hiked around a bit and watched some people do the white water rafting. It wound up being an ok time for my family and I despite the coaster being down.